Every year, ING, Unseen, and Futures work together for the ING Unseen Talent Award. For this edition, it was selected five finalists from Futures: Elena Aya Bundurakis, Ulla Deventer, Irene Fenara, Kevin Osepa and Karolina Wojtas. The winners will be announced on the 19th of September, during the ING Unseen Talent Award Ceremony.
Coached by Adam Broomberg, from the artistic duo Broomberg & Chanarin, the five finalists will be commissioned to produce a new body of work in the next few months. The results can be seen in the exhibition 'Nature of Change', during the Unseen Amsterdam, between the 20th and 22nd of September.
The five young artists will be assessed by an international jury, which includes Emma Lewis (Tate Modern), Kathy Ryan (The New York Times Magazine), Mels Crouwel (Benthem Crouwel Architects), an Sanne ten Brink (ING Collection). The winner will be granted with a project fund of € 10,000. There is also a public prize by online voting.
Meet the finalists:
Ulla Deventer (b. 1984)
From Germany, Deventer questions the interdependencies of women on social norms. She explores the female body, ideas of beauty, taboos, and sexuality. For her recent works, she has been involved in international research on sex work, based in Brussels, Athens, Paris and Accra.
Kevin Osepa (b. 1994)
Osepa was born and raised on the island of Curaçao. Currently, he is based in the Netherlands. In his works, he explores themes such as family, rituals, and pre and post-colonialism from an Afro-Caribbean perspective. Often departing from a personal point but always looking for the collective identity.
Elena Aya Bundurakis (b. 1988)
Bundurakis was born in Greece. In her research, she is constantly inspired by the anatomies of nature, either using animals, plants or her own body. One of her recent works, 'Eating Magma' explores how it feels to be a living organism.
Karolina Wojtas (b. 1996)
Wojtas is an artist based in Lodź, Poland. She takes a colourful, chaotic approach to subjects like childhood, education and love. In her works, images of empty classrooms are interspersed with ones of student activities, learning tools and visualizations of discipline and uniformity that as children we were likely not aware of.
Irene Fenara (b. 1990)
The Italian artist focuses on the ways of seeing and practicing observation on images. She reflects on linguistic devices and makes use of optical and electronic instruments to her work, from Polaroid to surveillance cameras, often in an improper manner and transgressing their basic function.
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